The domestic equity markets finished lower in a rangebound trade on Wednesday with headline indices Sensex and Nifty closing in red after diving nearly 1% each in the early dealings following the subdued activity of most of the regional stock market and the rip-roaring outcome of Karnataka Elections 2018.

BSE Sensex lost 156.06 points or 0.44% to end at 35,387.88 whereas NSE Nifty settled at 10,741.1, down by 60.75 points or 0.56% on Wednesday. (Image: Reuters)

The domestic equity markets finished lower in a rangebound trade on Wednesday with headline indices Sensex and Nifty closing in red after diving nearly 1% each in the early dealings following the subdued activity of most of the regional stock market and the rip-roaring outcome of Karnataka Elections 2018. Shares of HUL, Wipro, ITC and Yes Bank emerged as the notable gainers while ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries (RIL), SBI, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Ports and Bharti Airtel were the top losers among the components of BSE Sensex.

BSE Sensex lost 156.06 points or 0.44% to end at 35,387.88 whereas NSE Nifty settled at 10,741.1, down by 60.75 points or 0.56% on Wednesday. Among the group ‘A’ shares on BSE, stocks of Indiabulls Real Estate, PFS, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Edelweiss gained 6 to 12% while shares of RCom, Syndicate Bank, PNB, Adani Transmission, Century Ply 8 to 15%.

The sectoral indices of NSE ended mixed with Nifty PSU Bank index being the biggest laggards followed by Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Private Bank. Shares of Syndicate Bank, PNB, Bank of Baroda, Oreintal Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, State Bank of India (SBI) were the top 7 losers among Nifty PSU Bank index falling by more than 2% with Syndicate Bank plunging 12.45%.

Recently this week, Morgan Stanely said that the brokerage is constructive on India’s IT services stocks if Indian rupee also weakens as oil prices moves higher while Morgan Stanley’s largest underweights (UWs) are consumer staples, untilities, telecoms. Meanwhile, shares of RIL and ICICI Bank have made it to the Morgan Stanley’s emerging market focus list and Asia Pacific focus list (excluding Japan).

According to Associated Press report, European stock markets traded mixed with benchmark posting modest gains after a day of losses in most major Asian markets. “China-US trade talks, North Korea’s cancellation of meetings with South Korea and weaker than expected Japanese economic growth weighed on sentiment,” AP said in a report. Japan’s Nikkei ended down 0.4% to 22,712.23, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.1% to 31,110.2 and China’s Shanghai Composite index declined 0.7% to 3,169.57.